A Penny for your Tears
by Golden Moon Huntress
Summary: What if the Self-Sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home reached the Baudelaires soon enough for them to board?
1. i

**Author's** **Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events or anything else in this fic you recognise.

So this is a fairly short story a wrote mostly in one go a while back. The original idea was 'what if the Quagmires didn't make it to the Self-Sustaining Mobile Home and joined the Baudelaires?' If anyone wants to run with that idea, feel free. Most of the material from this is from the books, but there is some inspiration from the Netflix series as well.

* * *

While Jacqueline and Larry Your-Waiter distracted the crowd from their chanting, Violet formulated a plan and led everyone over to the old fire station. The truck was old and rickety, because the county was in the middle of a drought, which means they had a lack of water and therefore no use for a fire truck which used rather a lot of water, but they got it running.

"Your sister drives?" Duncan shouted as Sunny drove the truck through the station doors.

"Apparently!' Violet shouted back.

"You let your sister drive?" Isadora shouted, which was probably a more relevant question.

"Also apparently yes!" Klaus shouted back.

The fire truck sped out into the Hinterlands.

"Where are we going?" Duncan shouted.

"Anywhere that's away from here!" Violet shouted back. The four children in the back of the truck hunkered down and held on tight. Duncan watched the road ahead, Violet watched the road behind, Klaus watched the road to the left, and Isadora watched the road to the right. In this manner they had all their bases covered. The chanting could be heard once more in the town they had left behind.

"What do we want?"

"To burn children!"

"When do we want it?"

"Now!"

"Look!" Duncan cried. "What's that?"

In the air ahead of them, which was part of what Duncan was watching, was an enormous shape, a knot of balloons and baskets and rope, strung together with mechanics and hope. All the orphaned children stared.

"Dues ex machina," said Sunny. It was. It was also, of course, the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home.

Sunny drove the truck toward it, and Hector flew the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home toward them, and they met in the middle, if met in the middle meant that he was several hundred metres above them and they several hundred metres beneath him with no way for the two to meet.

"Hector!" Violet shouted. "Can you bring it down to us!"

"It wasn't designed to come down! Only up!"

"Then how can we join you!"

He heaved something from the bottom of the basket he was in. "You'll have to climb up this incredibly unstable and rickety rope ladder. Rickety means-"

"We know what rickety means!" shouted all the children. Hector unraveled the rope ladder, and Klaus, Duncan and Isadora raised the fire track's ladder while Violet ran round the truck to lift Sunny out of the driver's cab.

"Quickly! Climb on up!" called Hector.

"You first," said Klaus.

"But-"

"We came all this way to rescue you! Quickly!"

Duncan and Isadora climbed to the top of the metal ladder, followed by Klaus.

"Violet hurry up!" Klaus shouted. Duncan caught the rope ladder and held it for Isadora. Klaus then held it for Duncan, and the two Quagmires startled climbing the ladder. Sunny wrapped her arms around Violet's neck and held on like a limpet, a term which means she held on incredibly tightly, while Violet climbed the ladder. From a short distance away came a nearing roar.

"What do we want?"

"To burn children!"

"When do we want it?"

"Now!"

"Go on!" Klaus said. "I'm right behind you."

Violet climbed onto the ladder, still carrying Sunny, and followed their rescued friends up. Klaus fumbled to climb onto the rope ladder, which slipped out of his hands and swung away from him.

"Klaus!" screamed Violet.

"Kla!" screamed Sunny, which in this situation of course meant 'oh no Klaus, please don't be burnt at the stake!' Klaus tried to catch the rope ladder again and failed, once, twice, but then he succeeded on the third try and managed to climb onto it.

"Stop right there!" came the voice of Officer Luciana who was of course really Esme Squalor. "Get down at once!"

Duncan and Isadora were by now nearly at the top of the incredibly unstable and rickety rope ladder, while Violet and Sunny were just beneath halfway.

"Come down from the ladder at once!"

"No!" shouted Violet, Klaus, and Sunny in defiance, a word which here means they did not do what Esme Squalor and the people trying to burn them to death wanted them to do.

"It's just not cool to escape from Detective Dupin!" drawled Count Olaf. Sunny blew a very wet raspberry at him.

"Don't worry," said Officer Luciana/Esme Squalor. "I know just how to get them down." She produced something improbably large from her jacket.

"Officer Luciana! Is that a mechanical device?" asked one of the elders. Duncan and Isadora reached the top of the incredibly unstable and rickety rope ladder and climbed into the basket.

"It's a harpoon gun. A present from my very generous and handsome boyfriend," Officer Luciana/Esme Squalor purred, aiming it at the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home. "Bring that thing down at on once!"

"I can't!" replied Hector. "It's not designed to come down! Only up!"

"We'll see about that!" Officer Luciana/Esme Squalor fired the harpoon gun, hitting one of the baskets and sending a shower of feathers into the air.

"Oh no!" cried Hector. "My improbable and useless supply of pure white feathers!"

The feathers flew into the air and swirled around everything.

"Hector!" Violet shouted. "Take the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home up higher!"

"But you're not up here yet! What if you fall?"

"We're already high enough to go splat if we fell! Take it higher!"

The engines of the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home whirred into action and it began to rise. Down below Officer Luciana/Esme Squalor was trying to reload the harpoon gun. The three Baudelaires kept climbing, even though by now they were exhausted, aching, and weary, a word which here means exhausted and aching. Isadora and Duncan cheered encouragement.

"Farewell V.F.D!" shouted Hector. "You were scary, but we're leaving now! Farewell crows! Farewell nevermore tree! Farewell town hall where I always fainted! Farewell to all of you!"

It was an inspiring speech, but the Baudelaires were too exhausted, aching, and weary to appreciate it. It felt like the incredibly unstable and rickety rope ladder was twice as long as it was when the Quagmires climbed it, and by now everything beneath them was nothing but small dots.

Officer Luciana/Esme Squalor fired another harpoon, but the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home was much too high up for it to hit. Instead it pierced straight through one of the crows which had now began rising into the air. The Baudelaires could hear the outrage far beneath them.

At long last Violet reached the safety of the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home and climbed in. Her knees gave way beneath her, a word which here means she collapsed to the floor in a heap. Isadora lifted Sunny into her arms and Duncan helped Hector to start pulling the incredibly unstable and rickety rope ladder up now that Klaus was the only one on it. Finally Klaus too reached the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home and collapsed next to Violet.

"We made it," he whispered. Violet smiled.

"We made it."

"Madit!" squealed Sunny, waving her arms in the air. Isadora hefted her against her side and showed her the village of V.F.D very far below them and far away.

"Say goodbye to V.F.D, the crows, and Count Olaf."

Sunny shrieked with laughter. "Buh bye!"

Klaus and Violet got to their feet, watching with slight disbelief, something that means they weren't quite sure whether this was all real, as everything they had feared and hated vanished beneath them.


	2. ii

**Author's** **Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.

* * *

"Hector," said Violet, "these are our friends Duncan and Isadora Quagmire. Remember we told you about them."

"Oh yes, oh yes. It's so nice to meet you both!"

Duncan and Isadora both shook his hand.

"Are you sure you don't mind us coming along?" asked Duncan.

"Oh no, not at all. The Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home needs several people to keep it running, and there is plenty of room for all of us. With you aboard, we shouldn't have to go back down for a very long time."

Klaus laughed. "That sounds good to me!"

The Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home got higher and higher and further and further from any civilisation. Hector set it on autopilot while he gave them a tour. "This one is the kitchen, and these sacks contain supplies of food. Of course, we'll also have to grow things in the garden basket and in the little hanging baskets around, but we've got enough stored food to last a while. And this one is the library, where I put all the banned books from V.F.D. You should be careful, some of them are scary. And then the last two are bedrooms. My room is up there in the control basket, so you five can have these two between you. Maybe Violet, Klaus, and Sunny can have this one, and you two can have that one, or the girls want one and the boys want one, I don't know. That's up to you."

"Oh, it's wonderful!" exclaimed Isadora. "I'm sure I can write lots of poetry from up here! Do you want to be roommates Violet?"

Violet smiled. "Sounds good to me."

Violet, Sunny, and Isadora shared one basket, while Klaus and Duncan shared the other. During the night, however, Klaus climbed over to join his sisters in the girls' basket. Isadora was asleep after their long day and even longer ordeal, but Violet and Sunny were sat awake, gazing at the stars.

"It doesn't feel real," Klaus whispered. Violet took his hand and squeezed it.

"It's as real as this."

He leant into her. "Are we finally safe?"

"It might not be forever. Despite what Hector says, I don't think think this thing can stay in the air forever. There won't be nearly enough food for all of us for a start. But maybe, just maybe, he can fly us somewhere around the world, away from Count Olaf, and it would be even better if we could stay up here until I turn eighteen. Then I can claim the Baudelaire fortune and we can use it on things to keep Olaf out."

"Likhinam?" suggested Sunny, which in this situation meant 'like a hitman?"

"Sunny! Where did you learn about hitmen?"

"Sources," said Sunny,rubbing her nose. Their talking woke Isadora, who yawned and propped herself up.

"What are you talking about?"

"Safety," replied Violet. "And Olaf."

Isadora shuddered." I don't want to ever see that man again."

"Me neither."

Isadora let out a shaky breath and sat up to face Violet, her knees knocking with hers and Klaus'. "It feels like I can still see his eyes in the dark and his hands touching..." Her words trailed off with a slight yip. Violet took her hand and held it tight.

"You're safe now. We're hoping he won't find us up here."

"But Olaf always finds us!" said Klaus. Isadora whimpered, her eyes shining with tears. Violet squeezed their hands.

"How's he going to find us when we're all the way up here?"

That was true, as they were now very high up and Count Olaf was very far beneath them.

"I feel like I could shower and bathe for a full day and still feel his hands on me," Isadora whispered. Violet squeezed her hand a little tighter in sympathy, because she knew how that felt.

"It gets easier. Not better, but easier."

Duncan climbed over to join them. "I feel left out," he said, which was also true, because he was being left out in the boys' basket. Violet looked at him.

"We were talking about how strange it feels to be safe and away from Count Olaf."

Isadora smiled. "And with people who care about us."

Duncan slid down between her and Violet. "I'll make sure he never touches you again."

Isadora took his hand with her free one, and then he and Klaus took one of Sunny's tiny hands each, so that they were all linked together in a tangled web. Five children, multiple traumas, one source of blame, and a shared sense of kinship that surrounded them all.

They all fell asleep in the girls' basket that night, all tangled up together under the blankets.

They fell asleep like that the night after as well, and the night after that, and the night after that. In fact, it is safe to say that the boys did not really sleep in their basket and that the girls always had company in theirs, a term which here means that their brothers always slept there in their basket.

Days aboard the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home belonged to work and chores, maintaining it, which was Violet's job, gardening, which was Klaus's job as he had read many books on gardening, cooking, which was Sunny and Duncan's job, and keeping everything tidy and clean, which was Isadora's job, and when they weren't doing any of the aforementioned things, the two remaining Quagmire triplets taught the Baudelaires everything they knew about V.F.D. The organisation, that is, not the village. They taught them of the schism, of the noble volunteers and the villains, and the children thought and talked and came to the conclusion that even the noble volunteers seemed to have had plans for the children that might not have been in their best interests.

"V.F.D might have been a noble organisation once," said Klaus one day, "maybe when our parents were young and starry eyed. But now both sides of the faction are just as bad as each other."

The nights though, the nights belonged to them, their shared hurts, and their slowly shared healing. Being together like that helped them feel safe, even if they felt that it couldn't last and would be torn away from them at any given moment.


	3. iii

**Author's Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.

* * *

It was a quiet life for the five of them - six if one counted Hector, which, although he had rescued them from their terrible lives before, the children often did not. Hector was well meaning, but he could never understand.

Only they understood them.

They shared thoughts and memories across the five of them, wondered how things could have been different if their parents hadn't been members of V.F.D, if their lives could still be normal. But they did more than that, they shared feelings, emotions, their lives and dreams. Usually when people are living in such a confined space for a long time they would begin to irritate each other, but not the Baudelaires and Quagmires. They bonded, and they could understand what another felt or wanted just by looking at them.

Their non-inclusion of Hector in their little family was simpler than that though.

Hector, like many of the adults in the children's short lives, was just not much help.

When something went wrong with one of the Self-Sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home's engines, Hector panicked. Violet climbed into the machinery, and with Duncan helping from the outside, hung half in, half out of one of the baskets, set things right. Afterward she sat with Duncan in the library basket and combed her fingers through her hair. "Ever since our parents died we haven't been able to depend on anyone. Even now... the only people we can depend on are you and Isadora."

Duncan wrapped his arm around her and held her close as she cried.

When some of the plants in the garden basket died, Hector panicked. Klaus sat all day with the few books the Self-Sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home had on gardening and gathering food and worked out a solution. Isadora brought him lunch and they spent the afternoon together, leaning over the books and making notes. Afterward, they planted new seeds, further apart and in a better place this time.

Every time Klaus accidentally touched Isadora she flinched.

Sunny's job was cooking. When she accidentally burnt the food, as small toddler's trying to cook meals are liable to do, Hector panicked. It was her siblings and the Quagmires who put out the fire, through the burnt food overboard, and helped her fix the meal. Afterward she sat in Violet's lap with Klaus at their side and cried for her mummy who she could barely remember.

"I keep wondering how long this will last," Violet said one night as they lay in the basket. "How long before something bad happens?"

Klaus squeezed her hand. "We're miles and miles up, and no one knows where we are."

"Wha po," said Sunny, a phrase which here means 'that's what Mr Poe said every time he put us with a new guardian.' Isadora wrapped her arms around her legs and pressed herself closer to Violet.

"They can't find us here,' she whispered. "They won't find us up here."

Duncan shook his head. "They won't. No one will."

Life went on in their easy routine. By easy it is meant that the routine was an easy one to follow, not that the work the children were doing was easy, because some of it was far from it. Nonetheless, it was comfortable. They had a home at last, and perhaps more importantly for the children, they had each other. At night when they slept and one screamed themselves awake from the nightmares, remembering hanging from a tower in a bird cage, or being locked in a dark cage at the bottom of a deep shaft, or being chased with a knife, or being crammed into a fish statue that was only ever opened for one purpose with one's sister, the others would be there to hold them and comfort them and share the pain. It never went away but shared between five of them it was lighter than when it was carried by only one person.

The children could have stayed there in the Self-Sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home for years. Could is the key word here, as they could have done that, but they of course did not, because like all good things, all things must come to an end.

And the Self-Sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home was about to come to a rather sudden one.

 **Author's Note**

Massive thank yous to MiraculousFanGirl and the guest for leaving your reviews, and to PrankPrincess for the follow. I appreciate it, I really do. I would like to say though, that there is no romance to speak of in this story. This is partly to do with the style and partly because I don't really write romance, but also because some of the characters, Isadora in particular, are traumatised and not really up for romance right now. So we see a lot of family bonding between the Quagmires and Baudelaires but very little romantic stuff.


	4. iv

**Author's** **Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.

* * *

The first sign of trouble often comes in the form of a most unexpected thing. In this case, it was an eagle. It charged at the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home, screeching and clawing, tearing open one of the storage bags strapped to the side. Duncan chased it off with a rake, smacking it on the head until it wheeled away. Half an hour later though, another one came. This one Violet saw off with a well aimed jab from the screwdriver she was holding at the moment of the attack. Fifteen minutes later, yet another one came, and Isadora chased it away with a broom. Seven more minutes and a fourth one came, which Sunny drove off with a handful of ground pepper.

"This is ridiculous!" Klaus exclaimed. "Where are they all coming from?"

Isadora's eyes widened. "I remember reading something in The Incomplete History of Secret Organisations! The V.F.D had trained eagles, which they could use to attack their enemies. After the schism, they went with the fire starting side of things."

"We need something to fight off these eagles then," said Violet with a grim look on her face. "Hector! You should fly erratically to try and throw the eagles off. Take us up and down and side to side!"

"It's not designed to go down! Only up!"

"Do what you can!"

Violet worked with what she had to design a machine to fire small bundles of pepper and screws at the eagles, as well as weaving together parts of spare netting and fashioning a handle from the broom and rake to design a large contraption like a fly swatter. Isadora and Duncan wielded them while Violet, Klaus, and Sunny worked on a large net to catch the eagles in and protect the balloons holding the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home up in the air.

"Wha tha?" asked Sunny, pointing at something larger than an eagle in the air getting closer and closer. Violet and Klaus both looked. Violet shielded her eyes against the sun.

"I think it's a helicopter."

"Friend or foe?" wondered Klaus.

"Unknown."

The helicopter got closer and closer and closer, until it was close enough for a door on the side to open and two figures to lean out. On was a heavily pregnant woman with brown hair, but the other was a young boy with messy black hair. The Baudelaires had never met this boy but as he looked similar to Isadora and identical to Duncan their minds told them there was only one person he could be.

"Quigley?" whispered Isadora.

"Duncan! Isadora!" shouted the boy/Quigley.

"Quigley!" screamed Duncan.

"Baudelaires!" shouted the woman. "Quagmires! We're here to help you!"

"Sounds believable to me!" said Hector. "Hang on random complete strangers! I'll throw you this incredibly unstable and rickety rope ladder!" He did, and the two strung it between the helicopter and the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home like a bridge to crawl across. Duncan and Isadora dropped the Eagle Defending Devices to run to Quigley and hug him tight. The helicopter broke the incredibly unstable and rickety rope ladder and flew away.

"Quigley," whispered Duncan. "We thought you were dead."

"I escaped in an underground tunnel," Quigley explained.

"Like the one between 667 Dark Avenue and our mansion," said Violet. The strange woman smiled.

"Yes Violet Baudelaire, exactly like that one. In fact, built by the same people as that one, except Quigley's tunnel connected to your Uncle Montgomery's house."

Quigley looked at them all. "Isadora, Duncan, Baudelaires, this is Kit Snicket. She's one of the noble V.F.D volunteers and here to help you."

"We don't want help from V.F.D. We don't want anything to do with any of them," Isadora said.

"Your parents were proud members and volunteers. They did good work," replied Kit Snicket.

Violet pushed a strand of hair away from her face. "And we're proud of them, but V.F.D has brought us nothing but trouble. It got our parents killed, it's nearly got us killed. We don't want anything to do with it."

"You'll have to accept our help though, or the eagles will destroy your home."

Kit Snicket was correct. Violet worked with the boy Quigley, who kept very annoyingly spouting V.F.D propaganda, a word which here means information he kept using to try to convince her and the others to join the organisation, to complete the net needed to catch the eagles, while Klaus, Duncan, Isadora and Sunny fought off the eagles alongside Kit Snicket.

It was too late for their valiant efforts however, and one by one the eagles popped the balloons supporting the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home. At last the damage was too much and it crashed down to the sea below.

The cold water was a shock, biting, numbing, hungry. All of them, Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Isadora, Duncan, Quigley, Hector, and Kit Snicket tumbled into it, the white froth churning around them.

Violet began thinking of inventions to save them.

Klaus began thinking of all the books he had read on the sea and creatures that lived in it.

Sunny began thinking of all the things in the sea she could bite and that could bite her.

Isadora began thinking of poetry about the sea.

Duncan began thinking of newspaper articles about people surviving at sea.

Quigley began thinking of all the maps of the sea he had seen.

Kit Snicket began to quickly form a Vaporetto of Favorite Detritus and shouted for the others to come with her. A large black question mark appeared in the water beneath them. Violet's mind turned and turned, thinking of all the material around them.

"We should go to her," Quigley shouted over the noise of the sea. "She's a good woman, and V.F.D is a good organisation, a noble organisation! They put out fires like the ones that killed our parents!"

Violet wasn't listening to him. She had grabbed one of the baskets that once formed part of the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home and was using the screwdriver she had jammed into her belt to cut it free from the others. Realising what she was doing, Isadora grabbed the basket and used the small penknife she had taken to carrying with her to help. She once said that if she ever saw Count Olaf again and he tried to lay his hands on her again, she would drive the penknife through one of his shiny, shiny eyes. Together, they cut the basket loose and then with the help of their brothers managed to turn it over as the question mark got closer and closer. The six of them climbed into the basket and used large lengths of wood that had come loose from the remains of the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home to row. The question mark beast passed by underneath them, swallowing up some of the wreckage, and Hector, who they had lost sight of in the chaos.

 **Author's Note**

Shout out and massive thank yous to the guest and number ten for the reviews and to MiraculousFanGirl, and cshdwolfm for the reviews and follows!


	5. V

**Author's** **Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.

* * *

Unfortunately for the Baudelaires and newly reunited Quagmires, the worst had not passed. The worst was yet to come in the form of the biggest storm the Baudelaires had ever known. It was bigger than Hurricane Herman, which menaced them on the waters of lake Lachrymose, bigger than the storm that shook the house when Sunny was but a babe, bigger than a hoarde of more bees than you could even imagine.

In short, it was very, very big.

Perhaps by fate, or perhaps by some other coincidence, the basket Violet had chosen was the one that had once been the girls' bedroom, the one in which they all huddled together, stargazed, and slept. Using the now wet blankets, she fashioned a roof for the baskets using torn strips of one blanket and pieces of string to hold it down. The six children huddled in the basket as the water poured down on them. The basket was swept this way and that by the relentless waves, and they were entirely at it's mercy, just as they had always been at the mercy of someone else.

Klaus realised then that no one in the world was going to protect them

Violet realised then that only they could and would care for them.

Sunny realised then that of all the adults who said they would look after her, only her siblings had ever been a constant.

Isadora realised then that even if she screamed really loud, there was no one outside their little basket who would ever help her.

Duncan realised then that even though his parents were dead, his family was right there in the little basket with him.

And Quigley?

Well, he was t quite on the same page as the rest of the children, and was thinking about Kit Snicket and the inevitability, a word which here means is certain to come about, of V.F.D coming to rescue them.

V.F.D did not come during that storm.

Nor did Kit Snicket, Hector, Mr Poe, Uncle Monty, Aunt Josephine, or any of the other adults who had once told the children that they were safe now.

They were inside their own little bubble, and outside, the world was not quiet at all.

Eventually the storm ripped away Violet's makeshift canopy. It took all the storage containers that had still been attached to the side of the basket, and the remaining blankets from within it, and would have taken Sunny if Violet and Duncan hadn't held onto her really, really tight.

Finally everything was quiet and the basket stopped being tossed back and forth like a rubber duck in a child's bath water. The children looked about themselves. At first they seemed to still be at sea, but they soon all realised that was not the case.

"We've stopped," said Duncan. Klaus climbed gingerly from the basket. The water came up to his knees but no further than that.

"I think it's a coastal shelf," he said. "They're normally attached to land somewhere."

One by one, the children climbed gingerly from the basket that for five of them had meant safety, protection, and maybe even a sense of home.

"What shall we do now?" asked Isadora.

"V.F.D will come and pick us up," replied Quigley. "They're a good and noble organisation. We should all have gone there after our parents died, but some useless banker had you sent to that dreadful boarding school. You Baudelaires should have gone straight to your uncle Montgomery to start your induction, but someone had you sent to Count Olaf's instead. Once they find us you'll be able to learn everything you need to know."

Violet scowled. "We've already learnt enough to know that we don't want anything to do with any of V.F.D. We'll be grateful if they rescue us, but no more."

"Agreed," said Klaus.

"Gree," said Sunny. The three Baudelaires looked at Isadora and Duncan.

"Agreed," said the two Quagmire siblings who spent the most time aboard the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home with them. Quigley ran a hand through his messy hair.

"You don't understand-"

"We understand perfectly."

"No, you don't- V.F.D-"

"Got our parents killed," said Duncan.

"Our home burnt down," said Isadora.

"Our guardians killed," said Klaus.

"Basta," said Sunny, a word which here means 'or trying to kill us by pushing us down elevator shafts or burning us alive at the stake.'

"The only place we've felt safe in for a long time knocked out of the sky and destroyed," said Violet.

"V.F.D is a noble organisation."

"I don't care."

Klaus looked about. "Coastal shelves are usually near land. There must be an island nearby. Let's look for it."

Quigley shielded his eyes. "I don't see any land. We should wait-"

"No!" said Violet and Duncan in unison.

"Which way?" asked Isadora.

Violet glanced at the sun. "I vote west. At least then the sun won't be in our eyes."

"Do I get a vote?" asked Quigley.

"If it's going to be 'we wait for V.F.D to show up, then no," said Isadora. She and Duncan each seized one of Quigley's ears and pulled him along with them as they waded through the sea water.

"Can't you just hear me out? I've been looking for you all this time; I've been right behind all of you this entire way!"

"Creepa," said Sunny, meaning 'that's kind of creepy and stalkerish.'

"Creepa is right Sunny," agreed Klaus.

"We thought you were dead," Isadora whispered, her eyes shining with tears.

"We missed you so very much," murmured Duncan.

"And all this time you were right behind us."

"I wanted to find you at the boarding school, but Jacques said not to and that V.F.D were going to pick you up."

"Freanird," said Sunny. Duncan and Isadora nodded in agreement.

"V.F.D is a noble organisation, consisting of brave, good and noble volunteers who donate their time, intelligence, skills, and sometimes even their lives to protecting others from treachery and evil and putting out fires started by the fire starting side of the organisation."

"We know that," said Isadora. Violet took her other hand and held it tight.

"As far as we're concerned, both sides of the V.F.D are as bad as each other. They're full of treachery, backstabbing, secrets and destruction."

"That's not how it is," Quigley protested. Duncan shook his head.

"As far as we've seen Quigley, that's exactly how it is."

"V.F.D came to help you. They wanted to protect the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home! It was a marvellous feat of engineering that should have-"

"Been used for their own devices?" finished Klaus.

Quigley could not deny it.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Big thank you to Goldey9058 for the follow and The illuminaughty Pine Tree for the follow and favourite!


	6. vi

**Author's** **Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.

* * *

They walked and walked, or rather, waded and waded, passing Sunny between them as although she could toddle now she was too short to wade through the deep water. Duncan and Isadora let go of Quigley's ears once they were sure he would keep with them, although Isadora still held his hand tight and there was a part in her that believed he might fade away at any moment, a figment of her traumatised imagination.

"Look!" shouted Sunny, who was sat on Duncan's shoulders. "Land!"

The children's spirits were raised by this discovery, and they forced their exhausted bodies to wade a little faster, even Quigley, who still thought they should have waited with the basket but wanted to be out of this tiring and stinking seawater.

Violet saw that the island looked long and narrow.

Duncan hoped that they would reach the island soon.

Klaus saw that there were large white tents upon it, which suggested they would find some kind of help there.

Isadora hoped all of her family could stay together on the island.

Sunny hoped they would find something for her to cook delicious meals with.

Quigley hoped they would find someone there associated with V.F.D to talk the other children round.

"Who that?" asked Sunny, pointing at a small figure hurrying towards them. Violet frowned at them.

"Perhaps another survivor of the storm. Maybe they can help us."

It was a young girl, who after some questioning they discovered was called Friday and lived on the island. She gave them all a sip of coconut cordial and took them to meet Ishmael, the island's facilitator.

Ishmael welcomed them politely, if not warmly, which is another way of saying that he was nice, but his friendly manner put five of the six children on edge.

"He reminds me of Doctor Orwell," said Klaus, meaning that he felt Ishmael was only pretending to be friendly.

"He reminds me of Esme Squalor," said Violet, which was her way of agreeing with her brother.

Friday took them to another of the white tents to change into white robes like her own. All the children, even Quigley, were glad to be out of their wet things, but they all agreed that they were not going to throw away everything they had brought with them, like their commonplace books, Violet's hair ribbon, Isadora's pencil, and a spatula Sunny happened to have been carrying at the time the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home crashed.

"Do you think Kit washed ashore here?" Quigley asked. Klaus shrugged. The strange woman Quigley brought with him to the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home had hardly crossed his mind, nor that of any of the others, since the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home crashed and they were swept away by the storm.

"I didn't see her on the coastal shelf."

"It's just that I understand you didn't like her, but she's pregnant. I'd hate to think something happened to her or the baby because of me."

Duncan frowned. "Because of you?"

"I was the one that insisted we travelled to the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home. I wanted to meet up with you. Kit wanted to go somewhere called the hotel denouement to find a sugar bowl of all things. But she agreed we should pick you up, Baudelaires, because apparently your parents had something to do with it being stolen."

"More mysteries about our parents," sighed Violet.

"Friday said the villagers would scavenge the coastal shelf. Maybe they'll find her," said Isadora. Quigley sighed.

"Oh, I do hope so."

They did not find her, though they found a great many other things, all of which Ishmael said had no use here and the colonists chose to put on the sleigh to be taken to the arboretum.

"Did you find any other castaways?" Klaus asked.

"Only you. The storm was so bad this time we weren't expecting any to be found," said Ishmael. Quigley's face dropped and his eyes shone like Duncan's did when he was about to cry but didn't want to. Violet took his hand and squeezed it hard.

"It wasn't your fault," she whispered. "You didn't force her to go with you."

"We were hoping some friends who were with us might turn up. A man named Hector, and a woman called Kit Snicket."

"Everything washes up on our shores eventually, and there's another storm coming. They might turn up yet."

They were served ceviche for lunch, and the islanders brought them each a hollowed seashell of their own to carry coconut cordial, something none of the children were keen on. That night the six of them sat in the white tent they had been given for that night and formed a circle.

"It seems nice here," said Violet.

"Fobpa," said Sunny, which was her way of saying 'the food is terribly bland and subpar,' a word which here means not up to the standards she would like. Klaus leant against Duncan's shoulder.

"I haven't seen any treachery."

Duncan squeezed his hand tight. "And I haven't seen any villains. The colonists all seem… nice. Simple, but nice."

"Could we really stay here?" asked Isadora, which was her way of asking 'could we be safe from everything which before has hurt us here?' Quigley shook his head.

"We need to get back to V.F.D. They've been trying to help all of us for a very long time."

Isadora burst into tears and Violet held her close.

"Then why didn't they find us? Why didn't they help us?" Isadora screamed, and Quigley could say nothing. Later, when the girls were asleep, Klaus and Duncan dragged Quigley outside the tent. Klaus twisted Quigley's arm and Duncan boxed his ears until they rang.

"Isadora or Violet have been hurt, worse than us. If they seem to feel safe, if only for a second, you must never, ever, ever tell them otherwise."

Quigley slept that night tucked up tight between his siblings, and he hadn't felt safer in a very long time.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Big thank you to Alysscassandra for the follow and favourite, FuzzyElf24 for the favourite, and pureangel86 for the follow.


	7. vii

**Author's** **Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.

* * *

None of the children had anywhere else to go and so they succumbed to the peer pressure of the predicting islanders, are the bland food and drank the sickly sweet coconut cordial, even if it did make them feel rather sick and dizzy afterward.

"I don't like this cordial," said Isadora one day. "Every time I drink it it makes me think of..."

Violet puzzled over the problem and came up with a way to secretly boil water in a small metal pot she found half buried at the side of the island and purify a small amount of water for them. Isadora had the lion's share, which is to say she drank most of it, which the children felt was only fair because she disliked the cordial the most, largely because it brought back bad memories, but Violet would fill Sunny's seashell from it at the start of the day too, because she was the youngest, and the rest of the water would be shared out fairly.

The days passed by, much like they had aboard the self sustaining hot air balloon. At Ishmael's suggestion, Violet helped with the laundry, Klaus stayed with Ishmael to pile clay on his feet and refill his cordial, Duncan helped harvest seaweed, Quigley helped haul in catches of fish, and Isadora helped to gather coconuts for making the cordial she hated so very much. Only Sunny did something she enjoyed, cooking, even if the food was not very interesting.

The days were filled with the same bland routine, but like aboard the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home, the nights belonged to the children. They would gather, sometimes in the tent they had been assigned that night and sometimes outside it, and whisper sweet nothings to one another, words that cannot be said except between them, words that opened their hearts to one another and bound them, for now and forever. Quigley had heard of all his siblings and the Baudelaires went through from the Daily Punctillio and the volunteers of V.F.D, but hearing it from them here and now was different. They told him how they spent day after day,might after night, locked together in a large herring sculpture with scarcely room to breathe, let alone move, and all they could do was hold each other and cry. He told them how their mother pushed him into the tunnel to escape the manor and he waited and waited for her to return but was forced to leave as it filled with smoke. The Baudelaires told of life with Count Olaf and his troupe, of the bruises they had worn on their skins and under them, and all the children cried and hugged and huddled together.

The island was not exciting. But so far, it seemed far away from all the treachery that had followed them.

Another storm arrived as Ishmael had predicted, and the following day the children all went down with the islanders to scavenge the coastal shelf, as was tradition. Duncan carried Sunny on his shoulders, as she was still too short to wade through the water, and she kept watch for anything that might seem of interest and they could argue not to be taken away by the sheep at Ishmael's suggestion.

"Lacmos," sighed Sunny, which meant 'I don't know if I like it here or not.'

"It's not very exciting, but at least we're safe," replied Duncan. Violet pushed her hair away from her face. Even her ribbon was disapproved of in the colony and all the women wore their hair down, which was very inconvenient for Violet, a word which here means her dark hair, which by now was very long, kept getting in her face and she had nothing to cut it with as the colony also banned sharp objects. Sunny offered to cut it with her very sharp teeth, but they decided that would be unpleasant for all involved.

"Life in the colony does seem quite strict."

Isadora sighed. "Ishmael says he won't force anyone to do anything, but everything seems to be forced anyway. Like teachers who say they won't force you to to do your homework."

Klaus smiled. "Yes! Exactly like that!"

"We could always leave aboard the outrigger," suggested Quigley one night.

"And go where?" asked Violet.

"There is no place for us," said Duncan.

"Look!" squealed Sunny. "What that?"

It was floating on the edge of the coastal shelf, bobbing up and down on the waves. As the children neared it they found it was a large cube of books, bound together with string and rocking on the tide. Hanging over the edge was a bare foot with a tattoo of an eye on the ankle.

"Olaf!" shrieked Sunny, which immediately caused a chain reaction. Isadora screamed and turned to flee the other way, only to trip over Klaus, who was behind her. Duncan tried to grab her, but Sunny was clawing at his hair and shoulders in a panic, and he instinctively flailed back at her, causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards into the water. The youngest Baudelaire thrashed about in the too deep water. Only Violet and Quigley were left to think rationally amidst the chaos, a term which in this situation means that Violet picked Sunny up and hoisted her against her hip like she had not done in a long time while Quigley waded slowly around the cube to look better at it all.

"The foot looks too narrow and clean to be Olaf's," said Violet.

"What if I lift you up, and then you can have a look?" suggested Quigley. Violet passed him Sunny and he did just that, managing to lift Violet high enough for her to grab the edge of the cube and peer over the top, where she found not Count Olaf the infamous villain, but a woman she had only seen for a short while what seemed like a very long time ago now.

"It's Kit Snicket!"

At first she seemed unhurt except the foot hanging over the edge of the cube looked bent in a wrong manner, but then Violet saw the red that clung to her hair and stained the books where her head laid, as though she had lay there for quite some time and the scarlet had had long enough to seep in and stain the pages.

"Is she okay?" asked Quigley.

"I think she's hurt."

By now, other islanders had seen the cube of books and the commotion and come over to join them.

"What is that?" Friday, the young girl who first found them, asked with a point at the huge raft.

"It's a raft made of books," replied Quigley, "and the friend I was hoping might wash up is on it, but she's hurt."

"Then we need to help her!" exclaimed Friday, but a few of the other islanders were shaking their heads.

"We've never had even one book wash up before, let alone so many," said one man.

"They'll only lead to trouble," agreed another. Quigley shook his head and stamped his foot as best he could in the deep water.

"It's not about the books! It's about the injured woman on top of them!"

"She doesn't seem particularly kind, bringing all these books here."

"She's hurt, and she's pregnant, and she needs help!" exclaimed Violet.

"I know! Let's take her and all the detritus to Ishmael, and see what he decides," said another man. A few of the colonists began to push the cube along, and the children saw Kit Snicket's foot bounce up and down with the movement. At last it reached the edge of the coastal shelf and the island, but it turned out the raft of books was too large and much too heavy to be manoeuvred from the coastal shelf onto the island.

"Well, that's that. The island has decided it doesn't want these books," said Friday's mother.

"Aye, that's it. We'll leave them and this unkind woman here."

Quigley's eyes shone with tears. "Please don't!" he cried, but the islanders had made their minds up and gathered the rest of the detritus to take back to the settlement. The six children stayed by the cube of books.

"What do we do now?" asked Isadora.

"We can't leave her here. She's injured, and she would surely die," said Klaus. Violet pulled her ribbon from her pocket and used it to tie back her slightly damp hair.

"If we could just get her down from this raft, we could take her back across the island on the sleigh."

"But how do we get her down?"

"If I had some rope and some metal poles, I could build a pulley to lift her down."

"But we don't have rope, or metal poles."

Violet bit her lip. "Or if we had some wooden planks we could build a ramp and drag her down."

"But we don't have any wooden planks."

Violet folded her arms. "Or if we had something sharp we could-"

"But we don't have anything sharp."

"Do!" said Sunny. The five older children looked at her. She smiled and showed off her very large, very sharp teeth, which were still perfect for biting things even though she was a bit older now and had mostly grown out of that now.

"Bite!"

Violet clapped her hands. "Sunny that's perfect!" She lifted her off Quigley's shoulders. "I need you to bite through the ropes holding the raft together one by one, very carefully. As it comes apart, we'll grab Kit Snicket and pull her onto the island."

"Is that safe?" asked Quigley.

"Do you have a better plan?" asked Klaus.

He did not, so they went with Violet's plan, which went perfectly. Klaus, who had read many books on medical knowledge and first aid, checked Kit Snicket over and found her foot was broken, as was one arm. Most worrying though, was the very large wound on the side of her head, which was sticky with dried blood and sea water and almost seemed to curve her skull inwards when they touched it.

"We shouldn't have moved her," fretted Isadora. "What if we've made everything worse? I don't like her, but I don't want to be responsible for killing her."

None of them did.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Big thank you to Tybalt Silver for the favourite and follow, and to MiraculousFanGirl for the review.


	8. viii

**Author's** **Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.

An enormous thank you to everyone who has followed, favourited and reviewed so far! I'm sorry for the delay in updates at the moment; although this story is meant to be pretty much complete (I'm thinking about changing the ending a bit, but that's another matter completely), I've been so busy in real life at the moment that I just haven't found time to even just update my stories. This is the first moment I've grabbed in about a week and a half.

* * *

Klaus and Isadora walked back to the settlement to fetch the villagers and ask for the use of the sleigh to drag Kit Snicket back there.

"You brought that unkind woman ashore the island?" asked Mrs Caliban.

"It doesn't matter how unkind she is!" exclaimed Klaus. "She's pregnant, and she's seriously injured! It would be incredibly unkind just to leave her there!"

"But she brought books to our island!"

"Books?" asked Ishmael.

"Not deliberately!" shouted Isadora.

"I say it was still very thoughtless of her!"

"Well I think it's very thoughtless of you just to leave her there!"

"The books have all been destroyed anyway!" shouted Klaus. "Because you wouldn't help us, we had to cut the raft apart to get Kit Snicket down, and all the books were cut up or lost to the sea!"

"Oh, well that changes things," said Sherman.

"If the books are gone…" mused Willa.

"They are. But Kit Snicket is still here, and she's injured very badly. If we take the sleigh down there, we can put her on it and bring her back here to care for her."

"I won't force you," said Ishmael, "but this Kit Snicket sounds like trouble. The books might be gone but she still brought them with her. I suggest we leave her on the coastal shelf."

"Well I suggest we don't!" shouted one of the islanders, Finn.

"I suggest we bring her back here on the sleigh!" shouted another, Erewhon.

Some of the islanders did disagree, and Ishmael kept pressuring them to leave Kit and the children both on the coastal shelf, but ultimately the faction that wanted her brought back to the settlement won and she was taken into one of the many white tents.

"She's very badly injured," said Dr Kurtz, who had once been a vetinarian. "But we might save her baby yet."

He was as good as his word, a term which here means that Kit Snicket died of the injuries caused by incidents unknown and her newborn daughter was delivered safely and handed to Violet in the morning.

"We should have brought her ashore sooner. We might have saved her."

Violet wasn't sure that was true, but it was the statement that started a great schism and argument amongst the islanders. Some turned on Ishmael, some on the mutineers, some on the orphaned children, and even a few on Kit Snicket's newborn daughter, who was tossed aside in the fray and hurriedly caught by Violet as the only true innocent in these unfortunate events.

"I want better food!"

"I want the same food!"

"I want clean water instead of cordial!"

"I want more cordial!"

"I suggest rescuing the books from the raft!"

"I suggest burning the books!"

"I suggest reading!"

"I suggest illiteracy!"

The children huddled together as their safe place became dangerous, just like so many others had, just like Uncle Monty's, like Aunt Josephine's, like Prufock Prepetory, like 667 Dark Avenue, like the village of V.F.D, like the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home. Isadora cried, and Sunny whimpered, and Klaus, Violet and Duncan stared in dismay, and Quigley watched in horror as the schism encompassed the entire community.

"I suggest the children are the cause of our troubles!" roared somebody, and the entire settlement fell quiet.

"I suggest they are correct!"

"We were happy until they came here!"

"I suggest we were not," said Erewhon, but no one listened.

"I suggest we banish them to the coastal shelf!"

"I suggest we set them afloat on the outrigger!"

"I suggest we burn them with the outrigger!"

"Nomobun," said Sunny anxiously, a word which here means 'not more threats to burn us all to death like our poor unfortunate parents.'

"I suggest that might be a little extreme," mused Sherman, rubbing at his head. Ishmael tugged at his beard.

"It is true though that all our troubles started when these children washed ashore. I won't force you, but I would suggest the best thing to do would be to make all of these children leave on the outrigger."

"Well, I suggest making you leave on the outrigger!" shouted Finn, but no one was listening to him.

"Oh, Ishmael, you're so wise," said one woman.

"I think that might be for the best," said another.

The children looked at each other in unhappiness and disappointment, as the only community they had ever come to that had fully welcomed them turned on them and began shouting their 'suggestions.'

"I suggest we gather some food and supplies," whispered Violet, "and leave aboard the outrigger."

The other children agreed.

* * *

Decision day came, and the children and islanders had packed the outrigger with food, blankets, warmer clothes than the white robes they wore, and other supplies. They were also insistent, a word which here means refused to change their minds, that the children take Kit Snicket's baby daughter with them, as she too had brought the trouble and unkindness with her to the island even though she was but a newborn infant. Finn, Erewhon, and Mrs Caliban gave them a supply of sheep's milk, enough to last them a week if they rationed it. Violet was not sure that would work with a newborn infant, but she also wasn't sure she could abandon the baby with the islanders like so many people had abandoned her, like she and her siblings had been abandoned with Count Olaf.

None of the other islanders wanted to come aboard, and so the sea rose and rose, and the outrigger was washed out with seven children sat rather forlornly aboard.


	9. ix

**Author's** **Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Big thank you to KladoraVeryFavoriteDuo Deuce141 for the favourites and follows, to ninjagirl99204 for the favourite, and to everyone who has shown support for this story! This is actually the last chapter, there's only the epilogue left now, which I really hope doesn't end up being a let down from the rest of the story. I'm sorry for how rare the updates became all of a sudden, life has just ended up getting in the way. This was fully written from the beginning, I've just not even had time to update it.

* * *

Words cannot describe how miserable the children were during the days that they spent adrift on that outrigger. They cried, they sobbed, they wept, they clung to each other and wailed, and all the while they were at the mercy of the sea and the tides.

Violet built an awning over the back half to protect them from the sun during the day, Quigley used his knowledge of cartology to try and predict where they were and where they would end up if they did not happen across any ships, Sunny cooked them delicious, if small, meals to eat, Duncan wrote rather depressing articles on their life at sea, Isadora wrote incredibly unhappy poetry, and Klaus used the knowledge he remembered from books on fishing to catch them fish for Sunny's meals.

The supply of sheep's milk curdled and went bad after three days. The children tried to feed the baby from coconut milk instead, but they were only partially successful. The baby hardly ever cried any more, and sometimes one of the children would pinch her just to make her cry and know she was alive.

"What shall we do now?" whispered Isadora, and for once none of the others had an answer for her.

If you stopped reading here, you might think they all died out there, those unfortunate children. Perhaps they might have done, but for the fact another storm struck. So far all storms had only brought these children misfortune, but this one was on their side. It storm was not as bad as other storms that the children endured, but it was enough to toss the outrigger here and there, and finally dump it, unceremoniously, on the shores of Briny Beach.

"We're on Briny Beach," said Klaus somewhat incredulously.

"Bawestat," said Sunny, a word which means 'back where we started at the very beginning of our terrible journey.' Violet looked at the baby in her arms.

"We need to get her to a hospital."

"But how? We might still be wanted as murderers," said Klaus.

"You aren't," Quigley said. "Kit Snicket exposed Count Olaf at a carnival and made sure everyone knew he was the real villain."

"How do you know that?"

"I met her at the carnival."

Klaus and especially Duncan fixed him with irate glares, a phrase which in this case means they looked like they wanted him to combust on the spot.

"Why," growled Duncan, "did you not tell us any of this before?"

Quigley shrugged. "There never seemed a good time."

"There was a good time every single day!" Duncan snapped, taking a threatening step towards him. Violet grabbed his arm.

"Let's find a hospital."

Much hubbub ensued in the aftermath of their arrival. Many doctors and nurses checked them over and swept Kit Snicket's daughter into a special care unit. According to some records which the other children were not allowed to see due to privacy issues, she had one surviving uncle who would be contacted in the hopes he would become her legal guardian. The Baudelaires and Quagmires hoped he would be a better guardian than Count Olaf.

Speaking of Count Olaf and very poor guardian choices, Mr Poe arrived as soon as he heard the news of their return.

"Baudelaires!" he cried. "You have no idea how happy I am to find you safe!"

"Gellos," said Sunny, a word so rude that it shall not be translated.

"Gellos is right Sunny," agreed Klaus. "Go away Mr Poe, we don't want anything to do with you."

"Now Baudelaires, I understand you've been through an ordeal, but that's no excuse to be rude."

Violet scowled at him. "Please go away Mr Poe, we don't want you here."

"Now see that's much better, thank you Violet. It is remarkably good to see you all well and safe. You too Quagmires, although… there weren't two of you before were there?" He squinted at Duncan and Quigley. Duncan bared his teeth and snarled at him like a very hungry lion in a pit. Mr Poe started and jumped back. "I'm sure there should only have been two of you. Never mind. Come along, come along now."

Surrounded by many more people than they had seen in a very long time, the six children felt they had no other choice but to follow Mr Poe.

The Poes' house was really too small for six extra children. It did have an extra bedroom, but apparently that one had to be left empty at all times in case Mrs Poe's sister wanted to come and stay on short notice. The Baudelaires and Quagmires were given the landing and one mattress, where they huddled together.

"This is so much worse than the tent," said Klaus. His family whole heartedly agreed.


	10. X

**Author's** **Note**

I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.

* * *

It took Mr Poe an inordinate amount of time to find them a new guardian. It was a very distant uncle of the Quagmires who said he would be willing to have the Baudelaires as well as long as the children left him to do his very important work in peace. The children could have been happy there in his manor but they were there for a very short amount of time before the children's screaming at night disturbed their guardian too much for them to stay.

Next was a close friend of the Baudelaires' parents who the children had never met and her brother, who had been a close friend of the Quagmires who the triplets had never met. They were there for a matter of days before working out the two were part of V.F.D and refusing outright to have anything more to do with them.

They went through a handful more guardians, including but not exclusive to a woman with a house full of cats, a man with a scarred face and one leg, an incredibly creepy scientist with six other foster kids, a wheelchair bound man who ran a home for troubled kids, a millionaire with three children and a stepson, and finally a couple who should have been perfect but who by then the nearly adult orphans couldn't bring themselves to trust.

When Violet turned eighteen she took control of the Baudelaire fortune and removed it from Mulctuary Money Management to put it in another, more trustworthy bank with better security. She became the legal guardian of her siblings and the Quagmires, and moved them to a small village. That wouldn't be their final home though. Quigley saw a woman he thought looked like a volunteer and they moved quickly to somewhere else, where Klaus saw a person who looked like the enormous henchperson and they moved again.

This was their life for a long time, moving whenever they thought they saw something they recognised. Once Sunny thought she saw the Incredibly Deadly Viper slithering in the grass, another time Duncan saw a girl who reminded him of Friday Caliban, Violet saw a pair of women who looked like Olaf's white faced women, Isadora saw someone who looked like Mrs Ramona robbing a bank, and all of the children saw someone who reminded them of Jacques and Kit Snicket following them on more than one occassion. Each of these times was a cause for their family to move somewhere else.

They never would discover the fate of Hector, nor of the remains of the self-sustaining mobile home where they lived for so long, nor of Kit Snicket's young daughter.

Eventually, however, they would find peace in a small lakeside village not far from where the Baudelaires once lived with Uncle Monty, and it was only when they had lived there a year that they realised they had not once seen someone or something that made them run away again. They sat under the stars, all together, and smiled, and wondered what their parents would have thought of their cowardly ways.

 **Author's Note**

A massive thank you to everyone who read, followed, favourited and reviewed this story, and I really do hope this sort of an ending isn't too much of a let down. When I first wrote it, the ending was a fifty fifty decision between this and the children running away from the hospital and spending life on the run until Violet was eighteen. I decided on this one, since I couldn't make the other work, and the fic was complete from when I started posting it.

Again, thank you so much for everyone who supported the story!


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